Lahiri remains in contention at halfway stage of Open

Joy Chakravarty 04:44 18/07/2015
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  • Strong showing: Lahiri.

    ST ANDREWS — India’s Anirban Lahiri was making noise once again in an Open Championship, after a bogey-free round of two-under par 70 took his tally to five-under par 139 and in contention at the halfway stage.

    The 28-year-old from Bangalore, who made a hole-in-one and finished tied-31st in his debut Open at Royal Lytham and St Anne’s in 2012, was left a tad disappointed with a three-putt par on the famous 18th hole of the Old Course after driving the green, but delighted with his position going into the weekend.

    “Five-under par after 36 holes at The Open…I think anybody would have taken it, especially the way the weather has been,” said Lahiri, who started with a birdie and then added another on the par-5 14th hole.

    “It was sad to end on that note on the 18th. It would have been nice to back up a 69 with a 69. Obviously, I was thinking about it when I got to the green, and probably made the worst stroke of the day on that 10-footer that I had for birdie.

    “But all in all, it was a good day. I’m happy with the fact that I got away with my bad shots and I missed it in the right spots, played intelligently, so even when I didn’t hit my best golf shots, I put myself in a place where I could make par. There were a lots of positives.”

    Even though Lahiri had to endure a long wait in the morning in brutal weather, he said the conditions weren’t bad during his round. In fact, the prevailing wind from the right-to-left helped his natural shot-making.

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    “I think the back nine especially was less harder than yesterday,” said Lahiri who could eclipse the best finish ever by an Indian in a major – a tied-ninth place by Jeev Milkha Singh in the 2009 PGA Championship.

    “I think in this wind you’re likely to miss it left, and all the trouble on the back nine is on the right, so in that sense it kind of suits my ball flight, as well. It was hard, but it wasn’t as hard as it was yesterday.

    “The Old Course is all about putting yourself in position off the tee. If you are in position off the tee, you can think of hitting an aggressive shot. If you’re not, then you’re looking at spots that you can hit, bigger spots, bigger targets, leaving you much longer putts.

    “I spoke to my caddie Rajeev and we just made sure that we were not out of position. We wanted to be in a place from where we could make par, and I think that’s what I did well today, and that’s what I want to do for the next couple of days.”

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